There is a parable somewhere, probably among the Muslims,
concerning one small helpless creature -- let us posit: a mouse -- who got trapped somewhere on
a lofty cliff; yet survived, and
lived to an old age, because each day, without fail, winging its way across hundreds
of miles of depthless chasms and
fearsome crags, a bird came, bearing in its beak the daily sustenance of that grateful mouse.
And thus we learn, O ye faithful, that God the maker of all
things, who raised the firmament upon the pillars of the Earth, doth provide, in weal and in ill, for
all his creatures.
(So endeth the lesson for today.)
~
The other day, expecting company, I finally swept the
deck. Yet between the planks,
little bits of things were wedged, which the broom could not dislodge. I considered fetching a knife or a
screwdriver to try to pry the things out;
but then thought, de minimis.
Now, this morning, this sweet silent Sunday, to my surprise
and delight, that gentle little squirrel (smallest of all her kind) whom I wed
last week while in a state of sciurine
metempsychosis (for I am far too old-fashioned to contemplate cross-species
matrimony), returned to our back deck.
(You can read all about our nuptials here.)
Now, the deck had been swept, whereon she might browse at ease and nibble
her fill : Yet lo! From out those very cracks, her tiny
paws did daintily dig a
sufficiency of tasty seed, preserved there faithfully from the wind or from
consumption by larger creatures,
to keep her coat fluffy, her tail frisky, her black eyes bright! -- My belovèd! My
bride!
[Theological update] Biblical scholars have pointed out that the above
anecdote, and its moral, point out the wisdom of the Torah:
And when ye reap the harvest of
your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when
thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt
leave them unto the poor, and to the squirrel.
-- Leviticus 23:22
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